Building local tourism

How is your community planning for tourism?

Tourism has evolved as a development priority for many communities. It can enhance the local economy, as well as build community pride and foster protection of local resources.

We have a long history of assisting communities that want to develop or enhance tourism. Our educators work with communities at all stages of tourism development to identify local assets, explore new ideas and create sustainable tourism efforts.

Our resources can help — whether you are in the early stages of development or working to diversify a mature tourism industry.

Resources

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A tourism assessment can open your community up to new visitors and strengthen your local economy. When your community conducts a tourism assessment, a team of community leaders and University educators gather to review and analyze the community's tourism assets and potential for tourism development. The program includes a community visit by a team of experts who assess local tourism assets and facilitate discussions with community members. What they uncover is provided back to the community in a written report and discussed with the community at a public meeting to spark discussion of potential next steps in tourism planning. The community can then use the information to help set priorities for local tourism development efforts.

We understand that some communities prefer to manage the tourism development process on their own. So we developed our manual, Community Tourism Development, to help. This manual applies theory to real life by delivering the essentials of planning, developing and managing tourist destinations from a community standpoint.

Purchase of the Community Tourism Development manual includes free online access to the video Weaving Tourism Into Community: four stories over time and more than two dozen worksheets included in the text!